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Originally Posted by Namath12
I mean, is Portland not as liberal as Portlandia has led me to believe? How the **** is this guy the police chief of that city??
Great question. Portland is absolutely a liberal or left of center city by U.S. standards. However, the same goes for Honolulu, and yet the police force here has a reputation for being incredibly harsh and corrupt. Also, the Mayor of Portland is supposed to be one of the most liberal politicians in the city. However, he has done nothing so far but enable the right wing and the police who are allied with them. There are a few things going on here. For one thing, the "liberal" nature of these places and their local governments doesn't mean that the cops will be liberal. The Police in the U.S. is by its nature and by its function an extremely conservative, even reactionary, gang of muscle. That doesn't stop when you enter the more liberal metropolises.
For a bigger answer to your question, look at how the DC City Council just overturned the will of the people by overturning Initiative 77. These "liberal" local governments, whether that word is accurate or not, are really looking out for the interests of the wealthy property developers and the big business owners, not the marginalized members of the community. This is the bigger problem. When the Democratic Party has aligned itself with cosmopolitan middle class people and the Republican Party has aligned itself with straight up fascists, there is no major institutional support for antifascists, houseless people, transgender people, sex workers, etc. These people all have to fight both sides of the system to get their work done--and that's why I say the Democratic Party is a huge danger to all of us, even though it's not as bad as the Republican Party.